Joan Mitchell (1925–1992) established a singular approach to abstraction over the course of her career. Her inventive reinterpretation of the traditional figure-ground relationship and remarkable adeptness with color set her apart from her peers, resulting in intuitively constructed and emotionally charged compositions that alternately evoke individuals, observations, places, and points in time.
Border (1989) is a powerful example of Mitchell’s work from the late 1980s. For the artist, this was a time of profound creative development, growth, and focus on the possibilities of painting, but also a period of significant transition in her personal life and deep awareness of her own mortality.
